Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding flight simulation title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER provides a clear picture of how this combination handles different resolutions and quality presets. The benchmarks reveal a system capable of high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with a predictable performance curve as resolution increases. This analysis will break down the measured FPS, interpret the settings scaling, and explain the roles of the processor and graphics card in shaping the final experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rate data indicates that the Ultra preset is the most demanding option, yielding the lowest average FPS at every resolution. At 4K, the Ultra preset produces an average of 69 FPS, while the High preset achieves 73 FPS, a marginal difference of only 4 FPS. However, the gap between presets widens significantly at lower resolutions. At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 94 FPS compared to 99 FPS on High, while at 1080p, the difference is 117 FPS versus 123 FPS. This suggests that the visual quality gain from Ultra over High may not justify the performance cost, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU is already under heavy load.

The High preset appears to be the optimal balance for this combo. At 1080p, it delivers a smooth 123 FPS average, which is only 6 FPS less than the Ultra preset’s 117 FPS. At 1440p, the High preset maintains a strong 99 FPS, while at 4K it still manages a playable 73 FPS. The Medium preset offers a significant performance boost over High, particularly at 1440p where it jumps to 131 FPS from 99 FPS. At 4K, the Medium preset provides 97 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the High preset’s 73 FPS. For users prioritizing high refresh rates at 1440p, the Medium preset is the clear choice, as it delivers 131 FPS with minimums of 112 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience.

The Low preset provides the highest frame rates across all resolutions, with 157 FPS at 1080p, 146 FPS at 1440p, and 125 FPS at 4K. While this preset maximizes performance, it likely sacrifices significant visual fidelity in a game known for its detailed scenery and aircraft models. Given the data, the High preset is recommended for 4K and 1080p gaming, as it offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance. For 1440p, the Medium preset is the standout, offering a 32 FPS uplift over High while still providing a high-quality image. The Ultra preset is only advisable for users who prioritize maximum visual settings and can tolerate lower frame rates, as it offers less than a 5% performance penalty compared to High at 4K but a more noticeable 5 FPS drop at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications dictate the performance ceiling at higher resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This substantial bandwidth is crucial for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which streams large amounts of terrain and texture data. The GPU’s boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz, combined with its 10240 shading units, allow it to handle the complex rendering tasks required by the flight simulator. The RTX 4080 SUPER achieves an 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicating its high-end positioning.

Comparing it to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 54209 is nearly identical to the standard RTX 4080, which scores 54247, a delta of -0.1%. This suggests that the SUPER variant offers no meaningful performance advantage over the original in synthetic tests. However, the measured FPS data shows that this GPU is clearly capable of driving high frame rates. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 157 FPS, and even at 4K with Low settings, it maintains 125 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, but its role becomes more critical as resolution increases.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game’s requirements at the tested settings, as there are no signs of memory-related stuttering or performance drops in the data. The GPU’s pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are high, enabling it to fill the screen with detailed textures efficiently. The measured FPS drops from 123 to 99 to 73 when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K on High settings, a pattern that aligns with the GPU’s increasing workload. This confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the component that scales with resolution, and its performance is the primary driver of the experience at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The 1440p resolution with the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and quality, delivering an average of 131 FPS with a minimum of 112 FPS. At 4K with High settings, the combo still achieves a playable 73 FPS, showing it can handle 4K, but 1440p provides a much smoother experience.

Q: How much of a frame rate difference is there between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: At 4K, the Low preset achieves an average of 125 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 69 FPS. This represents a 56 FPS difference, or a 45% reduction in performance when using the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER significantly faster than the standard RTX 4080?

A: Based on average benchmark scores, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, while the RTX 4080 scores 54247, resulting in a delta of -0.1%. This indicates they perform nearly identically in synthetic tests, with the SUPER being slightly slower in this comparison.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a major bottleneck at 1080p, as the combo achieves 157 FPS on Low settings. However, the CPU’s performance becomes more relevant as the frame rate increases, and its 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is a mid-range processor that may limit the GPU in less demanding scenes.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 131 FPS, while the High preset achieves 99 FPS. This is a 32 FPS advantage for the Medium preset, making it a significant performance upgrade for a modest visual quality reduction.

Q: How does this combo rank among other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 386th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 10.4% of all systems tested. This indicates it is a high-performing combination, though not at the very top of the leaderboard.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 386th out of 3714 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This places the system in the top 10.4% of all tested hardware pairings, indicating a strong overall performance level. The high ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU’s capabilities, as the RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU, however, is less impressive, ranking in the 71st percentile among all CPUs. This disparity suggests the GPU is carrying the performance load, while the CPU is a more modest component.

The ranking context is important for understanding the system’s position. With 3714 total combos, a rank of 386 means there are 3328 combinations that perform worse and only 385 that perform better. This places the system firmly in the upper echelon of gaming rigs, capable of handling demanding titles like Microsoft Flight Simulator at high settings. The nearest rival for the CPU, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17120 on average, a delta of 0.3% from the i5-11400F’s score of 17177. This shows the CPU is competitive with other mid-range processors, but it is not a top-tier part.

The GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 4080, scores 54247, which is a delta of -0.1% from the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 54209. This near-identical performance reinforces that the SUPER is not a major upgrade over the original. The combo’s rank of 386 reflects the GPU’s strength, as this pairing can deliver 4K gaming at 69 FPS on Ultra settings. However, the CPU’s mid-range nature may cause it to be a limiting factor in CPU-intensive scenarios, such as complex airport environments or heavy weather effects, which are common in this flight simulator.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern in how the system scales with resolution. On the High preset, the average FPS drops from 123 at 1080p to 99 at 1440p, a decrease of 24 FPS (19.5%). Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average FPS drops further to 73, a decrease of 26 FPS (26.3%). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound workload, as the RTX 4080 SUPER’s rendering load increases with pixel count. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 50 FPS, a 40.7% reduction, which is substantial but expected for a GPU-heavy title.

The Low preset shows a similar trend, with FPS dropping from 157 at 1080p to 146 at 1440p (7% decrease) and then to 125 at 4K (14.4% decrease). The percentage drops are smaller at Low settings because the GPU is less stressed, allowing the CPU to play a larger role in maintaining frame rates. The Medium preset, which includes minimum and maximum FPS data, shows a drop from 144 FPS at 1080p to 131 FPS at 1440p, and then to 97 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS also scales, from 122 at 1080p to 112 at 1440p and 82 at 4K, indicating that the 1% lows are also affected by resolution.

This scaling behavior points to the GPU as the limiting component at higher resolutions. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s performance is directly tied to the number of pixels it must render, and the 4K resolution (3840x2160) has over 8 million pixels, significantly more than 1440p’s 3.6 million. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The data shows that the system is well-balanced at 1440p, where the High preset delivers 99 FPS, but at 4K, the GPU is clearly working harder, resulting in lower frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 157 FPS, the highest of any configuration. The Medium preset averages 144 FPS, with a minimum of 122 FPS and a maximum of 165 FPS. The High preset follows closely with 123 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 117 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 120 FPS on all but the most demanding settings, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains strong but shows a clear step down. The Low preset averages 146 FPS, a drop of 11 FPS from 1080p. The Medium preset averages 131 FPS, with minimums of 112 FPS and maximums of 151 FPS. The High preset drops to 99 FPS, while the Ultra preset falls to 94 FPS. The 32 FPS gap between Medium and High at this resolution is notable, suggesting that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for 1440p gaming, offering frame rates well above 100 FPS while maintaining good visual quality.

At 4K, the system’s performance is more constrained. The Low preset still delivers a respectable 125 FPS, showing the GPU’s raw power. The Medium preset averages 97 FPS, with a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS. The High preset drops to 73 FPS, while the Ultra preset is the lowest at 69 FPS. This data indicates that 4K gaming is viable with this combo, but only at Low or Medium settings for a consistently smooth experience. The High and Ultra presets are playable but hover near 70 FPS, which may feel less fluid in a simulator that requires precise control.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. This CPU ranks in the 71st percentile among all CPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer, but not a top-tier part. Its average benchmark score of 17177 is closely matched by its nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120, delta 0.3%) and the Intel Core i5-12450H (17239, delta -0.4%).

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, physics, and the complex simulation of flight dynamics. The game is known for being CPU-intensive, especially in scenarios with dense scenery or complex aircraft systems. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the system can achieve 157 FPS on Low settings, which is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU is not heavily limiting at this resolution. However, the CPU’s single-thread performance, as indicated by a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024, is adequate but not exceptional.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is more robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and a PassMark multithread score of 16908. This allows the processor to handle the game’s background tasks, such as loading terrain data and managing AI traffic. The 65W TDP and end-of-life production status suggest that this is a budget-friendly processor from the 11th generation, but its performance in this game is sufficient to keep up with the RTX 4080 SUPER at most resolutions. The data indicates that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this combo; rather, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, especially at 4K where the pixel count demands more from the graphics card.